Ruiz-Jasbon, F., Ticehurst, K.; Ahonen, J., Norrby, J., Ivarsson, M-L.
JSLS
Published: January–March 2018
DOI: 10.4293/JSLS.2017.00076
Objectives
The purpose of this study was to assess the incidence of pain and early recurrence in patients with LIH surgically treated with the TEP technique using a long-term degradable mesh.
This is the first human study to use long-term degradable mesh with the TEP approach.
Methods
This study was prospective, including 35 primary IHs surgically treated with TEP repair using TIGR Mesh (Novus Scientific).
At the 1-year follow-up recurrence was assessed by clinical examination and the incidence of pain or discomfort was assessed before and after surgery by Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Inguinal Pain Questionnaire (IPQ).
Results
After 12 months, no patients had chronic pain. Only 1 (2.8%) patient reported pain using the VAS (score _ 2), and 4 patients reported pain that could easily be ignored. All 4 patients reported less pain 1 year after the operation using both IPQ and VAS, compared with the preoperative assessment. One patient (2.8%) developed a recurrence 20 months after the primary operation.
Conclusion
TEP repair using a synthetic long-term resorbable mesh was found to be safe and promising regarding pain and discomfort at 1-year follow-up in patients with IH. Longer follow-up is necessary to establish the risk of recurrence.